Lisa Chandler

My art is intertwined with my love of travel and wandering global cities, the reflective space of the studio and the exciting process of painting. In particular I am investigating the concepts of the non-place, urban wandering and translation.

The non-place, a term coined by Marc Augé, is a generic, anonymous and transitory space. Travelling is the mode of the non-place and wanderers such as myself spend more time transitioning through these spaces rather than inhabiting specific places. These liminal spaces offer unexpected events, encourage change and restrain significant connections between users.

In my practice I explore the tension between the chaos of the crowd and the quiet of the individual in the non-place. The empty, private in-between spaces are highlighted; along with the unknown, the freedom and anonymity that the city and the canvas offer.

As an urban wanderer I employ the methodology of psychogeography as a means to negotiate and understand the complexities of global cities. The temporary events in non-places provide abundant motifs of twenty-first century life. As I wander these spaces I am positioned in the flow of the crowd, and amongst the sights and sounds of the city. My subjective experience as an artist is two-fold, first in the space of the city and then in the space of the studio.

Obliteration and layering are key translation processes. They create opportunities for chance happenings to occur and offers a refreshing freedom to experiment with paint without the constraints of intention impinging on creativity. Works evolve over time; during the making the paintings are in a constant transitional state. They shift and change as layers of paint are formed, obliterated and reformed. Each layer of paint becomes another translation of the image, moving the work further and further away from illustration.

I hope you will view my online galleries, read my blog and share my journey as an urban wanderer and painter.